Nation IN BRIEF : MICHIGAN

Kevorkian Assists in Texas Man's Suicide

Dr. Jack Kevorkian assisted in the suicide of a Texas man with multiple sclerosis who feared he would end up "in one of those rat-infested nursing homes." Kevorkian drove up to a hospital in Royal Oak about 3 a.m. and told a security guard he had a patient, Wallace Joseph Spolar of El Paso, in the car, who was pronounced dead a short time later. Documents left at the hospital indicated he was 70, but Kevorkian attorney Geoffrey Fieger said the man was 69. Since 1990, Kevorkian has acknowledged helping 42 people commit suicide. The most recent suicide before Spolar's was Sept. 29.